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ZFA should respect stakeholders opinions
2006-06-24 10:53:50
By Editor
The Zanzibar Football Association (ZFA) general election, which was earlier set for July 1 has been postponed till further notice.
The election was postponed because of low turnout of the aspirants.
Stakeholders and officials of the game refused to apply for the various posts demanding the amendment of the constitution before the election.
One of things they wanted to be included in the new constitution is that clubs officials be allowed to vote at the ZFA general elections.
Now that the election is postponed, it is the right time for ZFA to work on the amendments instead of asking money from the government for the postponed election.
ZFA recently asked for the assistance from the government through Zanzibar Sports Council (ZSC).
Money is not a problem, the problem is amending the constitution which meets the requirements of soccer lovers and that can attract sponsors to come in.
We, therefore, ask the government to stop assisting ZFA until they amend the constitution so that good atmospheric climate is created.
ZFA do not play soccer, they are supposed to respect the opinions of the clubs who play soccer.
Amending the constitution will make ZFA cope with the constitution of FIFA.
The world soccer body stresses that the clubs should have more powers in the constitution amendments because they are the owners of the game.
World Cup: Till when shall Tanzania continue to play ’fans’ game?
As the ongoing 2006 World Cup finals in Germany are entering the second phase the sudden death stage Africa can only find solace by the finals’ new entrant, the West African country of Ghana.
Their trouncing the country of basket-ball, the USA, 2-1 was a commendable feat.
However that consolation cannot be said to be sustainable because in the coming stage they will have to overcome the world’s soccer giants Brazil, the record five-times winners.
However, if history has its way, then Ghana has a good chance to derail Brazil chances in that stage. We say if history will have its say, because it’s only once in the championship’s history that the ’’samba’’ country took the cup two times in a row. This came about 45 years ago in 1958 and 1962 during Pele’s era.
Furthermore, history also tells us that the Brazilians always find it a difficult proposition to walk away with the cup from European territory, they did so only once 48 years ago in Sweden.
However, all this may be wishful thinking, as millions of Brazilians fans worldwide, including Tanzania will shout you down and say, convincingly, that no team can stop the South American country.
Not with the line up of Ronaldo and the other three ’’nhos’’ i.e. Ronaldinho, Robinho and Cicenho.
This necessarily brings about the mystifying issue of football fanaticism. It is said that football fanaticism know no boundaries and there might be more Ghanaians wishing Brazil to win that match than those wishing their country success.
Or mildly put, many Ghanaian soccer lovers would not cry very much if their country is eliminated by Brazil. That goes for Tanzania as well if places are swapped.
This again brings us to another nagging issue: for how long will our country be playing the ’’fans’’ game in international competitions, especially in the most loved game in the world?
Togo is nothing but West Africa’s tiny backwater of a country best known for having produced Africa’s long serving dictator.
Angola has been in the news for quite a long time, since its independence 3 decades ago not for its soccer, but for having undergone one of the longest civil wars in the continent. Hardly a stage for registering tangible development in soccer.
Why can’t peaceful, prosperous Tanzania do the same? Or should we wait until Rwanda, our tiny north-western neighbour that has also seen much civil conflicts including a genocide overtake us?
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